ESCONDIDO POLICE HOLD FIRST DUI CHECKPOINT UNDER NEW LAW

ESCONDIDO 
In the Escondido Police Department’s first DUI checkpoint since a new state law regulating vehicle impounds took effect, five cars that were being driven by unlicensed motorists were released to licensed owners or drivers.

Previously, cars stopped at checkpoints and found to be driven by unlicensed motorists were towed. Now, a sober driver whose only offense is being unlicensed is given the opportunity to locate the vehicle’s registered owner and release the car to him or her or to another responsible party.

The law applies only to unlicensed drivers at DUI checkpoints, Escondido police Lt. Tom Albergo said. Authorities may impound the cars of unlicensed drivers detained in a traffic stop. The law also does not apply to drivers with suspended or revoked licenses.

During the Jan. 27 checkpoint at Centre City Parkway and Decatur Way, four cars were released to an owner or designated driver, and one was released to a licensed passenger, Albergo said.

Albergo said the checkpoint procedures under the new law went smoothly. The unlicensed drivers were asked to contact the registered owners of the cars or another driver, and they were allowed to wait in their cars.

Five vehicles stopped at the checkpoint were towed because the drivers had suspended or revoked licenses, and one vehicle was towed because the registered owner could not be found after the checkpoint closed.

Escondido DUI and driver’s license checkpoints have been the target of protests by activists who say the stops target illegal immigrants.

At last week’s checkpoint, police arrested two drivers on suspicion of drunken driving, and one person was arrested on suspicion of public intoxication. The DUI suspects’ cars also were towed.

Officers continued a roving DUI patrol in the city until 3 a.m.

Escondido police have said the purpose of sobriety and driver’s license checkpoints is education and deterrence.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently announced that California’s DUI deaths reached their lowest level ever in 2010. The state Office of Traffic Safety, which awards grants for checkpoints, credits the record number of DUI checkpoints in 2010 as partly responsible for the reduction.

“Everybody in law enforcement knows that checkpoints are good education tools and a good deterrent, but it’s always nice to have good hard statistics confirm that,” Police Chief Jim Maher said.

In December, the City Council unanimously approved the acceptance of a $75,530 sobriety checkpoint grant from the Office of Traffic Safety. Councilwoman Olga Diaz voted to accept a checkpoint grant for the first time “in years,” she said, because of the impending change to the impound law.

The part of the checkpoints that she opposed, towing the cars of unlicensed drivers, was no longer a problem, Diaz said.